Profile

Few people could claim to be more multi-cultural! I was born in Kobe, Japan to a Yorkshire man and a Shanghai-born Russian mother. We moved to Tokyo where I lived for nearly a decade before shifting to Sydney, Australia. My parents sent me to boarding school in New Zealand as a twelve year-old - thereby making Christchurch my defacto home ever since. My geographically dispersed family structure persisted until after my University studies where, after gaining an M.A., I moved to the U.S.

Originally based in San Francisco, I worked within the hospitality industry on and off for a number of years including spending nearly two years studying and working in Paris, France - gaining three culinary diplomas before returning to the States. Kansas City became home for two years, and apart from a stint in New Orleans, and a few other adventures, I returned to Australia to open my first of three restaurants.

After a number of years I decided to change gear and move to Tonga. 'Home' literally became a grass hut with a thatched roof on a beautiful atoll seven kilometers off the capital of Nuku'alofa. It was here that my 'boss' (Angelika, who had lived in Tonga for twelve years from her native Bavaria) eventually became my wife.

After two years we came back to Christchurch, setting up a home, building up our business, and in due course, had a son. Along with running a restaurant, I took up more studies and also spent time as a radio talkback host which I enjoyed enormously.

I have been politically active for a number of years including having had the privilege of being a Member of Parliament. My experiences include having been Deputy Chair of the Law & Order Select Committee. My work as a longstanding campaigner for victim's rights, heavily involved in policy and research work, and a published author on the criminal justice system [Justice with Both Eyes Open] has been hugely rewarding. Areas of interest also includes: the prison system; crime prevention (incl. CPTED - crime prevention through environmental design); victim's rights; and my continuing association with the Monarch Centre - Sexual Abuse Survivors Trust - in Christchurch.

Additional activities have included authoring discussion documents on justice issues and the manufacturing industry. I am also a regular contributor in print and electronic media and daily radio commentary on a range of public interest issues. Within the National Party, I have enjoyed being the Wigram policy chair and editor of the Canterbury Westland Regional policy newsletter Thinking National.

My wife Angelika is a former president of a Playcentre, Board member of the Canterbury Playcentre Association, and School Trustee. She is currently a member of the National Council of Women, and is President of the Canterbury German Society. She is also a J.P.